For many people, 'tis the season for parties and celebrating. Frequently, it is also a time of year where you're hurry-up-and-waiting for baked goods to bake, or there's down time while you're visiting family, or there's no work getting done at your desk job since people took time off. Or you've just finished your holiday shopping and you're kicking back with a congratulatory cup of a winter beverage and your technology fix of choice. Your local community's contra organizers are likely to be taking a well-deserved break before New Year's, so what's a 'Net-savvy contra dancer to do?

Jeff Kaufman's blog has been cited around here a few times; while it's not 100% contra-related all the time, he regularly updates and frequently has some interesting thoughts on contra community and the like from the POV of a dancer, a caller, and a musician (and a few times he's posted some interesting commentary -- on stuff I've posted here and otherwise -- that has made me think).

I stumbled on to Miriam and Clark Baker's pages back when someone posted a term I wasn't familiar with to the Glossary project a few weeks back. From what I gather, Clark was also one of the people who was in on Lisa Greenleaf's experiments with alternative music contra dancing in the 2000's. It focuses a lot on square dance, but in my Internet wanderings I'm seeing people finding interesting similarities between MWSD (especially patter calling) and alternative contras.

Listen

Club Contras DJ Nu B has a recording of his November set up. (Note to self: find my way down to Greenwood, VA when he's spinning in 2012.)

Contra Sonic's dJ improper also has a Mixcrate site, for those who haven't danced to his spinning yet (and those who have danced to his mixes in DC or elsewhere...).

For those seeking a contra-ish Pandora fix -- as has been pointed out by several people, the only thing on Pandora that's contra is Wild Asparagus. While I love Wild Asparagus, there is a wealth of other contra stuff out there that isn't reflected in Pandora. Until this is remedied, Eileen Thorsos mentioned that she finds some of her electrotrad source music for her Electric Camel Contra mixes on Pandora, by searching for artists like Shooglenifty and Martyn Bennett (Perpetual e-Motion cites the latter as one of their inspirations).

_If you've found something cool and contra-related while web surfing, please share with the rest of us! Happy Holidays to all!

With its new season starting, the Club Contras series in Greenwood, VA found itself looking for some new DJ talent to supply the music for dances. Last month, Brian “DJ Nu B” Murphy made his Club Contras debut. I caught up with him and talked to him about his tunes, his other musical endeavors, and the inspiration he brings and communicates with his DJ skills.

This project has concluded as of mid-2013 (with an epilogue posted mid-2016) but we hope to see you soon on a contra dance floor! Meanwhile, head over to our Facebook page for upcoming techno contra events and other items of interest.

Author

I dance with abandon. I play with glowsticks. I look for music that is conducive to one or both. I play behind cameras. I write about all of the above. I'm based in Glen Echo's contra dance community outside of Washington, D.C., but I'm happy to go dance afield when I can. Lather, rinse, repeat. Always repeat.